Chanel hosted their seventh annual pre-Oscars dinner at Madeo in Beverly Hills last evening, celebrating with nominees Julianne Moore and Keira Knightley and fellow actors like Jessica Chastain, January Jones, Kristen Stewart, and Anjelica Huston. The evening feted so many strong women that we wanted to take the opportunity to ask them how they feel about the state of film right now, especially in light of the #AskHerMore movement.

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Moore, who hurried to the dinner after winning Best Female Lead at the Independent Spirit Awards for her work in Still Alice, is grateful that filmmakers still want to put her in movies. "I've been so lucky," she said. "We have very little control as actors. The only thing we have control over is saying yes or no. You don't know what's going to come your way, and I'm fortunate I have these really great opportunities."

The actress, who is favored to win the Oscar this evening, has a new movie, Maps to the Stars, out Friday, in which she plays an aging actress struggling to remain relevant. The David Cronenberg-directed film, set in Hollywood, examines how self-worth and identity can be related to public recognition. "I think what's so interesting about the movie is it's less about Hollywood than it is about dysfunctional families," Moore noted. "It's really about two families and how they're all looking for validation from the outside world. The only way you can really, truly be seen and acknowledged is in an intimate relationship and these people have dysfunctional relationships so they're looking to that outside world to be validated."

Chastain, who has portrayed several complex characters in films over the past year, said she recently asked her team to seek out scripts that feature good roles in general. Any complex, interesting character can, in theory, be played as either gender in a story.

"I've told all my reps to keep a look out for scripts, even ones that maybe they forgot about five years ago, with a male lead that could easily be female," she said. "In Interstellar my character was originally a man...I just worked with Ridley Scott, and his lead in Alien was originally a man. So I know it's possible." Chastain also produced for the first time last year, stepping behind the scenes for The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby. As for directing? "Right now not so much, but maybe in the future," she said. "It's possible."

Zoë Kravitz has two action movies out the coming months, Insurgent in March and Mad Max: Fury Road in May. The actress has found that the scripts coming her way have been slightly better in terms of female characters, but still lack a sense of necessary diversity.

"Unless it's a plot point, people like to stray away from multiracial couples in films."

"I think it's changing," she said. "I think something happened in the last couple years. Hollywood seems hungry for something different for women. I don't know if that's from The Hunger Games and Divergent, but something is triggering that. Lately I've been reading more interesting scripts. I'm going to say though—it's even more difficult for brown women and that's something I struggle with. Unless it's a plot point, people like to stray away from multiracial couples in films. Hopefully that will change sooner than later. I'm fighting for that."

Lily Collins has also developed specifications when looking for a role: "I'm looking for a transformation from one thing to something else," Collins noted. "An inner growth—not just arm candy." How often does she find that? "Every once in a while a script pops out," she said. "But you don't want it to be all the time because it wouldn't make the one you find that special. There are great roles, it just doesn't necessarily mean they're the ones I'm attracted to."

Not all the actresses were familiar with #AskHerMore yet, but Brie Larson was especially thrilled to hear of its existence. "We have such an awesome opportunity to speak out publicly," she said. "It seems like a good time to talk about something more interesting than what we're wearing." Indeed.